Kopi Luwak

The Truth about Kopi Luwak

Every year, nearly 3.8 million tourists visit the beautiful island of Bali. Many of them visit attractions and participate in activities that fuel immense animal suffering. When holidaying in Bali, please choose the places you visit and support with caution.
Kopi Luwak is “civet coffee”. Civets (‘Luwak’ in Indonesian) are small, nocturnal mammals, native to Bali and other parts of Asia. The coffee (“kopi”) they help to create – by eating and excreting coffee beans, which are then collected and cleaned – has become increasingly popular.
Sadly, this rise in popularity has encouraged the cruel trade in, and farming of, these beautiful animals.

Five Facts about Kopi Luwak

Today, very little kopi luwak is sourced from wild civets. Most kopi luwak is sourced from civets that are caught from the wild and kept on “farms” to produce large quantities of part-digested coffee beans.

Once captured, the civets are either sold to ‘farm’ owners, or traded at wildlife markets.

On farms, civets are forced to live in small, barren cages. Food is often restricted and the civets are forced to eat coffee beans to maximise the farmers’ profits, causing unimaginable suffering to the shy wild animals.

Civets are shy, nocturnal animals and often are caged under very bright lights, with other animals and tourists gawking at them.

What can you do?

DON’T buy civet coffee. Even kopi luwak promoted as from a 100% ‘cage-free’ source usually is not.

DON’T visit civet farms in Bali

DON’T support operators who offer tours to such facilities

WRITE to your local Indonesian Embassy to call for a ban on keeping and farming civets for kopi luwak